The Village by the Sea is a touching tale of resilience and hope, set in the small fishing village of Thul, not far from Bombay. Forgotten by the evolution of the centuries and seemingly indifferent to the advances of the twentieth century, the village continues to follow the rhythms of the seasons that have been handed down through generations.

The story follows young Hari and Lila, who have been born and raised in this village. Their family is falling into despair, with their father succumbing to alcohol and their mother seriously ill. Despite these hardships, the siblings strive to keep their home intact.

The narrative beautifully depicts the strength of family bonds and the determination of the young to forge a better future. As Hari ventures to Bombay in search of work, Lila is left to shoulder the responsibilities at home. Amidst extreme poverty, the story offers a powerful picture of another culture and the enduring spirit of survival.

Do you think Cinderella married the prince and lived happily ever after, and that the three little pigs outsmarted the wolf? Think again!

Premier storyteller Roald Dahl twists the fate of six favorite fairy tales in this picture book edition. Fairy tales have never been more revolting!

Illustrated by Quentin Blake.

The High Queen is an imaginative return to the Arthurian legend as told from its pagan priestesses. This journey continues with Book Two: The High Queen.

Morgaine, finally reconciled to the birth of her son, must relinquish him to her aunt Morgause in exchange for the kept secret regarding his parentage. Arthur marries the timid but dutiful Gwenhwyfar, while ongoing wars with the Saxon invaders continue to rage across the land.

Morgaine, tired of worldly concerns, attempts to return to Avalon, but disappears without a trace somewhere near the end of her journey. In a last bid for peace, Arthur compromises his loyalty to Avalon by carrying the Christian banner into battle.

Gwenhwyfar's inability to conceive has the kingdom despairing of an heir to the throne, while behind the scenes, her love for Lancelet grows more impassioned and desperate.

A Masterful Spiritual Classic

Once upon a time, the residents of the town of Mansoul were tricked into defying their ruler, Shaddai. Their new ruler, Diabolus, brought them great harm. When Shaddai sends Prince Emmanuel, his son, to rescue them, a great battle is fought. Who will emerge victorious—Diabolus or Emmanuel? And what can the inhabitants of Mansoul do to resist the attacks of the evil one?

From the author of The Pilgrim’s Progress comes a powerful allegory about the battle being fought for man’s heart, mind, and spirit. Your soul is under attack from the forces of evil. Through this compelling read, you will learn how to build up your defenses, flood your moat, and prepare for victory in the war against Satan and the forces of darkness!

Book Four finds Morgaine moving closer to the fate that will set her intractably against Arthur—her lover, brother, and now, enemy. Returning to Camelot during the Feast of Pentecost, Morgaine accuses Arthur of compromising the crown and demands that he return Excalibur to her. When he refuses, Morgaine arranges a confrontation between her lover, Accolon, and Arthur in the kingdom of Fairy, resulting in Accolon's death.

Grieving and still without Excalibur, Morgaine makes a hasty retreat to Avalon. When she finally returns to Camelot, it is to retrieve Avalon's Holy Regalia, now being used in a Christian mass. Enraged at this betrayal, Morgaine calls upon the Lady's magic, which results in the mysterious disappearance of the holy chalice, prompting the companions of the Round Table to embark on a 12-month quest to find it.

Events spiral out of control when Lancelet returns, resumes his adulterous relationship with Gwenhwyfar, and is finally exposed. The novel closes with the King Stag's death and Morgaine's long-anticipated return to Avalon.

Welcome to Owl's house!

Owl lives all by himself in a cozy little house. But whether he's inviting Winter in on a cold and snowy night, or welcoming a new friend he meets while on a stroll, Owl always has room for visitors!

Laurie was at home, but her boyfriend swears he saw her on the beach with another guy. Her family insists they see her coming and going when she's been out of the house for hours.

Who—or what—is taking over Laurie's life?

When 2001: A Space Odyssey first shocked, amazed, and delighted millions in the late 1960s, the novel was quickly recognized as a classic. Since then, its fame has grown steadily among the multitudes who have read the novel or seen the film based on it.

Yet, along with almost universal acclaim, a host of questions has grown more insistent through the years:
Who or what transformed Dave Bowman into the Star-Child? What purpose lay behind the transformation? What would become of the Star-Child?
What alien purpose lay behind the monoliths on the Moon and out in space?
What could drive HAL, a stable, intelligent computer, to kill the crew? Was HAL really insane?
What happened to HAL and the spaceship Discovery after Dave Bowman disappeared?

Now all those questions and many more have been answered. In this stunning sequel to his international bestseller, Clarke has written what will truly be one of the great books of the '80s. Cosmic in sweep, eloquent in its depiction of Man's place in the Universe, and filled with the romance of space, this novel is a monumental achievement.

Raymond E. Feist's classic fantasy epic, Magician, has enchanted readers for over twenty years. The revised edition was prepared to celebrate the tenth anniversary of its publication, and incorporates over 15,000 words of text omitted from previous editions.At Crydee, a frontier outpost in the tranquil Kingdom of the Isles, an orphan boy, Pug, is apprenticed to a master magician – and the destinies of two worlds are changed forever.Suddenly the peace of the Kingdom is destroyed as mysterious alien invaders swarm the land. Pug is swept up into the conflict but for him and his warrior friend, Tomas, an odyssey into the unknown has only just begun.Tomas will inherit a legacy of savage power from an ancient civilization. Pug’s destiny is to lead him through a rift in the fabric of space and time to the mastery of the unimaginable powers of a strange new magic. Reviews'Epic scope… fast moving action…vivid imagination'WASHINGTON POST'tons of intrigue and action'PUBLISHERS WEEKLY

H.P. Lovecraft has yet to be surpassed as the twentieth century’s greatest practitioner of the classic horror tale. The oldest and strongest emotion of mankind is fear, and the oldest and strongest kind of fear is fear of the unknown.

This is the collection that true fans of horror fiction must have: sixteen of H.P. Lovecraft’s most horrifying visions, including:

• The Call of Cthulu: The first story in the infamous Cthulhu mythos—a creature spawned in the stars brings a menace of unimaginable evil to threaten all mankind.
• The Dunwich Horror: An evil man’s desire to perform an unspeakable ritual leads him in search of the fabled text of The Necronomicon.
• The Colour Out of Space: A horror from the skies—far worse than any nuclear fallout—transforms a man into a monster.
• The Shadow Over Innsmouth: Rising from the depths of the sea, an unspeakable horror engulfs a quiet New England town.
• Plus twelve more terrifying tales!

Russia faces famine. The Soviets are forced to pin their hopes for survival on the U.S. But as the KGB and the CIA watch in horror, the rescue of a Ukrainian freedom fighter from the Black Sea unleashes savagery that endangers peace—and plunges leaders from Washington to Moscow into a web of overwhelming intrigue, terror, and suspense.

Only two lovers can save the world from nuclear destruction. Yet every way out means certain death, and the countdown has already begun.

Witch Week tells the story of a world where witches exist, and the law dictates that all witches must be burned at the stake. The narrative unfolds in an English boarding school, where an anonymous note warns, "Someone in this class is a witch." This revelation causes a stir among the students of class 6B, especially a boy who has just discovered his ability to cast spells and a girl with a name reminiscent of a famous witch.

The story features the charming enchanter Chrestomanci, who also appears in other beloved works such as Charmed Life, The Magicians of Caprona, and The Lives of Christopher Chant. As the students scramble to identify the witch among them, alliances form and tensions rise, leading to magical mishaps and unexpected discoveries.

In this world of enchantment and danger, the students must navigate their fears and friendships to uncover the truth. Will they find the witch before it's too late, or will their society's harsh laws catch up with them?

Mrs. Mike is a classic and wholesome romantic tale that has enchanted millions of readers worldwide. It brings the fierce, stunning landscape of the Great North to life—and masterfully evokes the tender, touching moments that bring a man and a woman together forever.

Recently arrived in Calgary, Alberta after a long, hard journey from Boston, sixteen-year-old Katherine Mary O’Fallon never imagined that she could lose her heart so easily—or so completely. Standing over six feet tall, with “eyes so blue you could swim in them,” Mike Flannigan is a well-respected sergeant in the Canadian Mounted Police—and a man of great courage, kindness, and humor. Together, he and his beloved Kathy manage to live a good, honest life in this harsh, unforgiving land—and find strength in a love as beautiful and compelling as the wilderness around them.

Anne Rice brings to life the exquisite and otherworldly society of the eighteenth-century castrati, the delicate and alluring male sopranos whose graceful bodies and glorious voices brought them the adulation of the royal courts and grand opera houses of Europe.

These men lived as idols, concealing their pain as they were adored as angels, yet shunned as half-men.

As we are drawn into their dark and luminous story, the crowds of Venetians, Neapolitans, and Romans—noblemen and peasants, musicians, prelates, princes, saints, and intriguers—swirl around them.

Anne Rice brings us into the sweep of eighteenth-century Italian life, into the decadence beneath the shimmering surface of Venice, the wild frivolity of Naples, and the magnetic terror of its shadow, Vesuvius.

Ichabod Crane, a superstitious schoolteacher, arrives in the eerie town of Sleepy Hollow to educate its young minds. However, his life takes a chilling turn as he becomes enamored with a wealthy farmer's daughter and hears tales of the Headless Horseman.

One fateful night, Ichabod encounters a dark, menacing figure riding behind him. The figure carries something unusual in its hands, and the encounter leaves Ichabod's fate a mystery, as he is never seen in Sleepy Hollow again.

This timeless tale, set in 1790, is a captivating blend of horror and suspense, making it a classic read for those who enjoy ghostly legends and historical fiction.

When struggling riverboat captain Abner Marsh receives an offer of partnership from a wealthy aristocrat, he suspects something’s amiss. But when he meets the hauntingly pale, steely-eyed Joshua York, he is certain. For York doesn’t care that the icy winter of 1857 has wiped out all but one of Marsh’s dilapidated fleet. Nor does he care that he won’t earn back his investment in a decade. York has his own reasons for wanting to traverse the powerful Mississippi. And they are to be none of Marsh’s concern—no matter how bizarre, arbitrary, or capricious his actions may prove.

Marsh meant to turn down York’s offer. It was too full of secrets that spelled danger. But the promise of both gold and a grand new boat that could make history crushed his resolve—coupled with the terrible force of York’s mesmerizing gaze.

Not until the maiden voyage of his new sidewheeler Fevre Dream would Marsh realize he had joined a mission both more sinister, and perhaps more noble, than his most fantastic nightmare...and mankind’s most impossible dream.

Here is the spellbinding tale of a vampire’s quest to unite his race with humanity, of a garrulous riverman’s dream of immortality, and of the undying legends of the steamboat era and a majestic, ancient river.

Red Schuhart is a stalker, one of those young rebels who are compelled, in spite of extreme danger, to venture illegally into the Zone to collect the mysterious artifacts that the alien visitors left scattered around. His life is dominated by the place and the thriving black market in the alien products. But when he and his friend Kirill go into the Zone together to pick up a &“full empty,&” something goes wrong. And the news he gets from his girlfriend upon his return makes it inevitable that he'll keep going back to the Zone, again and again, until he finds the answer to all his problems. First published in 1972, Roadside Picnic is still widely regarded as one of the greatest science fiction novels, despite the fact that it has been out of print in the United States for almost thirty years. This authoritative new translation corrects many errors and omissions and has been supplemented with a foreword by Ursula K. Le Guin and a new afterword by Boris Strugatsky explaining the strange history of the novel's publication in Russia.

T. S. Eliot's playful cat poems have delighted readers and cat lovers around the world ever since they were first published in 1939. They were originally composed for his godchildren, with Eliot posing as Old Possum himself, and later inspired the legendary musical Cats.

These lovable cat poems continue to delight children and grown-ups alike. Eliot's beloved cat poems are a curious and artful homage to felines young and old, merry and fierce, small and unmistakably round.

One of Sidney Sheldon's most popular and bestselling titles, repackaged and reissued for a new generation of fans. Kate Blackwell is one of the richest and most powerful women in the world. She is an enigma, a woman surrounded by a thousand unanswered questions. Her father was a diamond prospector who struck it rich beyond his wildest dreams. Her mother was the daughter of a crooked Afrikaaner merchant. Her conception was itself an act of hate-filled vengeance.

At the extravagant celebrations of her ninetieth birthday, there are toasts from a Supreme Court Judge and a telegram from the White House. And for Kate there are ghosts, ghosts of absent friends and of enemies. Ghosts from a life of blackmail and murder. Ghosts from an empire spawned by naked ambition!

Sidney Sheldon is one of the most popular storytellers in the world. This is one of his best-loved novels, a compulsively readable thriller, packed with suspense, intrigue and passion. It will recruit a new generation of fans to his writing.

Remembrance of Things Past: Volume II delves into the intricate tapestry of Belle Epoque France, unfolding through the profound reflections of its narrator. This volume encompasses The Guermantes Way and Cities of the Plain, capturing the essence of art, time, and memory.

As the narrator grows up, falls in love, and experiences the tumultuous events of the First World War, the narrative mesmerizes readers with its intricate portrayal of human emotions and societal norms. The translation by C. K. Scott Moncrieff, later revised by Terence Kilmartin, has been celebrated for capturing the essence of Proust's monumental work.

This literary masterpiece invites readers into a world where personal experiences are intertwined with historical events, offering a unique perspective on the passage of time and the power of memory.

Cujo is a 1981 psychological horror novel by American writer Stephen King about a rabid Saint Bernard. The novel won the British Fantasy Award in 1982 and was made into a film in 1983.

Set in the Ardennes Forest on Christmas Eve 1944, Sergeant Will Knott and five other GIs are ordered close to the German lines to establish an observation post in an abandoned chateau. Here, they play at being soldiers in what seems to be complete isolation.

That is, until the Germans begin revealing their whereabouts and leaving signs of their presence: a scarecrow, equipment the squad had dropped on a retreat from a reconnaissance mission and, strangest of all, a small fir tree hung with fruit, candles, and cardboard stars.

Suddenly, Knott and the others must unravel these mysteries, learning as they do about themselves, about one another, and about the "enemy," until A Midnight Clear reaches its unexpected climax, one of the most shattering in the literature of war.

Her name was Killashandra Ree. After ten grueling years of musical training, she was still without prospects. Then she heard of the mysterious Heptite Guild on the planet Ballybran, home of the fabled Black Crystal. For those qualified, the Guild was said to provide careers, security, and the chance for wealth beyond imagining.

The problem was, few people who landed on Ballybran ever left. But to Killashandra, the risks were acceptable...

Nobody knows better than Matthew Scudder how far down a person can sink in this city. A young prostitute named Kim knew it also—and she wanted out. Maybe Kim didn't deserve the life fate had dealt her. She surely didn't deserve her death.

The alcoholic ex-cop turned p.i. was supposed to protect her, but someone slashed her to ribbons on a crumbling New York City waterfront pier. Now finding Kim's killer will be Scudder's penance. But there are lethal secrets hiding in the slain hooker's past that are far dirtier than her trade. And there are many ways of dying in this cruel and dangerous town—some quick and brutal ... and some agonizingly slow.

Ancient, ultimate evil threatened the Elves and the Races of Man. For the Ellcrys, the tree created by long-lost elven magic, was dying, losing the spell of Forbidding that locked the hordes of ravening Demons away from Earth. Already the Reaper, most fearsome of demons, was free. Only one source of protection was powerful enough to stop it: The Elfstones of Shannara.

The stones and the right to use them belonged to Wil Olmsford, given him by his grandfather Shea. Allanon, legendary Druid guardian, summoned him from his studies in Storlock to protect Amberle, the elven girl who must carry a seed of the tree to the mysterious Bloodfire, life-source of earth, there to be quickened and to create a new Ellcrys.

While Allanon and the Elves fight a hopeless war against the emerging demons, Wil and Amberle plunge forward in a seemingly impossible quest to find the Bloodfire.

Tout m’avale (…) Je suis avalée par le fleuve trop grand, par le ciel trop haut, par les fleurs trop fragiles, par les papillons trop craintifs, par le visage trop beau de ma mère.

L’Avalée des avalés, premier roman de Réjean Ducharme, s’ouvre sur ces mots crus, douloureux, vibrants, ces paroles d’écorchée vive qui immédiatement nous happent. Tout m’avale, scande la narratrice, et nous voilà, nous aussi, immédiatement “avalés”, pris à la gorge par la douleur vive de cette héroïne qui s’agrippe de toutes ses griffes à l’enfance, alors même que son corps est en train de la trahir.

Elle s’appelle Bérénice, elle a une famille – un père juif, une mère catholique – qu’elle hait, elle a un arbre, un “navire” où elle aime se réfugier. Quand je ne sais plus quoi faire, je m’embarque (…) Larguez les continents. Hissez les horizons. Ici, on part. Et nous partons. Loin sur les ailes de son imagination. Le plus loin possible de sa douleur, de la vie, de la petitesse des humains.

At last, the costly and bitter war between the two Foundations had come to an end. The scientists of the First Foundation had proved victorious; and now they return to Hari Seldon's long-established plan to build a new Empire on the ruins of the old. But rumors persist that the Second Foundation is not destroyed after all—and that its still-defiant survivors are preparing their revenge.

Now two exiled citizens of the Foundation—a renegade Councilman and a doddering historian—set out in search of the mythical planet Earth. . .and proof that the Second Foundation still exists. Meanwhile, someone—or something—outside of both Foundations seems to be orchestrating events to suit its own ominous purpose. Soon representatives of both the First and Second Foundations will find themselves racing toward a mysterious world called Gaia and a final shocking destiny at the very end of the universe!

Ian Fleming’s fifth James Bond novel takes readers on a thrilling ride through the world of espionage. James Bond is marked for death by the Soviet counterintelligence agency SMERSH in this masterful spy thriller.

SMERSH stands for ‘Death to Spies’, and there’s no secret agent they’d like to disgrace and destroy more than 007, James Bond. But ensnaring the British Secret Service’s most lethal operative will require a lure so tempting even he can’t resist. Enter Tatiana Romanova, a ravishing Russian spy whose ‘defection’ springs a trap designed with clockwork precision.

Her mission: seduce Bond, then flee to the West on the Orient Express. Waiting in the shadows are two of Ian Fleming’s most vividly drawn villains: Red Grant, SMERSH’s deadliest assassin, and the sinister operations chief Rosa Klebb — five feet four inches of pure killing power.

Bursting with action and intrigue, From Russia with Love is one of the best-loved books in the Bond canon — an instant classic that set the standard for sophisticated literary spycraft for decades to come.

Look Homeward, Angel: A Story of the Buried Life is a 1929 novel by Thomas Wolfe. It is Wolfe's first novel and is considered a highly autobiographical American Bildungsroman. The character of Eugene Gant is generally believed to be a depiction of Wolfe himself. The novel covers the span of time from Gant's birth to the age of 19. The setting is the fictional town and state of Altamont, Catawba, a fictionalization of his home town, Asheville, North Carolina.

Playwright Ketti Frings wrote a theatrical adaptation of Wolfe's work in a 1957 play of the same title.

QB VII is a riveting courtroom drama by Leon Uris, exploring the depths of human nature under the most dire of circumstances. In Queen’s Bench Courtroom Number Seven, famous author Abraham Cady stands trial. In his book The Holocaust—born of the terrible revelation that the Jadwiga Concentration Camp was the site of his family’s extermination—Cady shook the consciousness of the human race. He also named eminent surgeon Sir Adam Kelno as one of Jadwiga's most sadistic inmate/doctors. Kelno has denied this and brought furious charges against Cady.

Sir Adam Kelno has spent his whole life covering up his past. After his political beliefs land him in Jadwiga, Poland’s worst concentration camp, Kelno earns privileges with the Nazis by performing inhumane operations on Jewish prisoners. Now, after rebuilding his name in a British colony and being knighted by the British monarchy, Kelno finally feels safe returning to London. But his past catches up with him when Cady's book names him one of the most sadistic doctors at Jadwiga. Anxious to quell the rumors, Kelno charges Cady with slandering his name. As the court proceedings draw out, Cady must fight to avenge his past while Kelno fights to save his future.

This novel not only delves into the horrors of the Holocaust but also presents a gripping legal battle, making it one of the great fictional trials of the century.

The Lottery and Other Stories collects short stories by Shirley Jackson, including "Like Mother Used to Make," "Afternoon in Linen," "A Fine Old Firm," as well as "The Lottery."

This collection demonstrates Jackson's remarkable range--from the hilarious to the truly horrible--and power as a storyteller. The creeping unease of lives squandered and the bloody glee of lives lost are chillingly captured in these tales of wasted potential and casual cruelty.

Just So Stories by Rudyard Kipling is a cherished collection that has entertained young and old alike for over a century. These classic tales, rooted in the oral storytelling traditions of India and Africa, feature mischievously clever animals and people. Through these stories, Kipling offers little pearls of wisdom about the pitfalls of arrogance and pride, along with the importance of curiosity, imagination, and inventiveness.

The prose is rhythmic, making these tales perfect for sharing aloud with the whole family. This edition not only includes all of Kipling's unforgettable stories but also features ten stunning watercolors and numerous black-and-white drawings by award-winning artist Barry Moser, bringing this timeless masterpiece brilliantly to life for a new generation of readers.

In the midst of an international crisis, Heidi Milligan, a beautiful, brilliant American naval commander, accidentally discovers an obscure reference to the long-buried North American Treaty, a precedent-shattering secret pact between the United States and Great Britain.

The President believes that the treaty offers the single shot at salvation for an energy-starved, economically devastated nation, but the only two copies plummeted into the watery depths of the Atlantic in twin disasters long ago. The original document must be found—and the one American who can do the job is Dirk Pitt.

But in London, a daring counterplot is being orchestrated to see that the treaty is never implemented. Brian Shaw, a master spy who has often worked hand in hand with American agents, now confronts his most challenging command. Pitt’s mission: Raise the North American Treaty. Shaw’s mission: Stop Pitt.

Dirk Pitt is enlisted to spearhead his most daring mission yet—the rescue of a vital document for the United States. Pitt’s quest plunges him into a head-to-head confrontation with Britain’s most cunning secret agent—and into the throes of a torrid love triangle. As time runs out for a desperate America, Dirk Pitt races toward an underwater clash more terrifying than anything Clive Cussler has ever created—the breathtaking climax of Night Probe!

Since its first publication in 1965, this edition has been widely hailed as the best available text of Blake's poetry and prose. Now revised, it includes up-to-date work on variants, chronology of the poems, and critical commentary by Harold Bloom. An Approved Edition of the Center for Scholarly Editions of the Modern Language Association.

The beloved, bestselling tale of edible weather is brought to life!

If food dropped like rain from the sky, wouldn't it be marvelous! Or would it? It could, after all, be messy. And you'd have no choice. What if you didn't like what fell? Or what if too much came? Have you ever thought of what it might be like to be squashed flat by a pancake?

In 1931, Charles C. Flanagan, a grand-scale promoter in the P. T. Barnum vein, organizes a cross-country footrace from Los Angeles to New York, with a purse of $150,000 for the winner. Two thousand runners from around the world gather to participate in this grueling trek, which takes them through mountains, deserts, plains, and cities.

Amidst the intense competition, friendships and alliances are formed, tempered by the harsh realities of the race. Organized fisticuffs in Springfield and organized crime in Chicago provide lively entertainment, along with period views of those cities.

This is a story of different ambitions and dreams converging through a shared determination, inspiring readers to push on to the finishing line.

In his second collection of stories, as in his first, Carver's characters are peripheral people--people without education, insight or prospects, people too unimaginative to even give up. Carver celebrates these men and women.

The most celebrated story collection from “one of the true American masters” (The New York Review of Books)—a haunting meditation on love, loss, and companionship, and finding one’s way through the dark that includes the iconic and much-referenced title story featured in the Academy Award-winning film Birdman. "Raymond Carver's America is ... clouded by pain and the loss of dreams, but it is not as fragile as it looks. It is a place of survivors and a place of stories.... [Carver] has done what many of the most gifted writers fail to do: He has invented a country of his own, like no other except that very world, as Wordsworth said, which is the world to all of us." —The New York Times Book Review

Dinner at the Homesick Restaurant is a profound and moving exploration of family dynamics. Pearl Tull may be dying, but the memories of her life are vivid and binding. Abandoned by her salesman husband, she is left to raise her three children alone: Cody, a flawed devil; Ezra, a flawed saint; and Jenny, errant and passionate.

As Pearl lies encased in her pride and solitude, the past is unlocked, revealing secrets that have kept the family together despite everything. Now, gathered during a time of loss, they will reluctantly unlock the shared secrets of their past and discover if what binds them together is stronger than what tears them apart.

This story is a heartfelt journey through the Tull family's memories, some painful, yet holding them together despite their differences. Ezra, who stayed at home to look after his mother, runs a restaurant where he cooks what other people are homesick for, stubbornly yearning for the perfect family he never had.

Through every family run memories which bind it together - despite everything. The Tulls of Baltimore are no exception. This novel is a tapestry of emotional journeys, family secrets, and nostalgic tales that will remind you why "to read a novel by Anne Tyler is to fall in love."

The magnificent second novel from the legendary author of One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, Ken Kesey, wrote what Charles Bowden calls one of the few essential books written by an American in the last half century. This wild-spirited tale tells of a bitter strike that rages through a small lumber town along the Oregon coast. Bucking that strike out of sheer cussedness are the Stampers.

Out of the Stamper family's rivalries and betrayals Ken Kesey has crafted a novel with the mythic impact of Greek tragedy.

A triple murder in a Moscow amusement center: three corpses found frozen in the snow, faces and fingers missing. Chief homicide investigator Arkady Renko is brilliant, sensitive, honest, and cynical about everything except his profession. To identify the victims and uncover the truth, he must battle the KGB, FBI, and New York police as he performs the impossible--and tries to stay alive doing it.

The gigantic comet had slammed into Earth, forging earthquakes a thousand times too powerful to measure on the Richter scale, tidal waves thousands of feet high. Cities were turned into oceans; oceans turned into steam. It was the beginning of a new Ice Age and the end of civilization.

But for the terrified men and women chance had saved, it was also the dawn of a new struggle for survival—a struggle more dangerous and challenging than any they had ever known.

The Awakening, first published in 1899, remains a significant work of literature for its bold treatment of female marital infidelity and its exploration of a woman's social and personal turmoil. Kate Chopin's novel takes readers back to the late Victorian period, challenging the conventional romantic fiction of the time with its candid portrayal of Edna Pontellier, a woman confined within a repressive marriage, who seeks and discovers an intense emotional and physical connection beyond the realm of her matrimonial life.

The narrative is not only remarkable for addressing then-taboo subjects but also for its literary finesse. Edmund Wilson praised the work for being "quite uninhibited and beautifully written," drawing parallels with D. H. Lawrence's approach to infidelity. Today, while the shock factor of its central theme has diminished, the novel's psychological depth and stark honesty in the portrayal of an extramarital affair continue to garner admiration and critical acclaim.

Down-and-out drunk Terry Lennox has a problem: his millionaire wife is dead and he needs to get out of LA fast. So he turns to the only friend he can trust: private investigator Philip Marlowe. Marlowe is willing to help a man down on his luck, but later Lennox commits suicide in Mexico and things start to turn nasty. Marlowe is drawn into a sordid crowd of adulterers and alcoholics in LA's Idle Valley, where the rich are suffering one big suntanned hangover. Marlowe is sure Lennox didn't kill his wife, but how many stiffs will turn up before he gets to the truth?

Such wonderful children. Such a beautiful mother. Such a lovely house. Such endless terror!

It wasn't that she didn't love her children. She did. But there was a fortune at stake—a fortune that would assure their later happiness if she could keep the children a secret from her dying father.

So she and her mother hid her darlings away in an unused attic. Just for a little while. But the brutal days swelled into agonizing years. Now Cathy, Chris, and the twins wait in their cramped and helpless world, stirred by adult dreams, adult desires, served a meager sustenance by an angry, superstitious grandmother who knows that the Devil works in dark and devious ways. Sometimes he sends children to do his work—children who—one by one—must be destroyed....

Way upstairs there are four secrets hidden. Blond, beautiful, innocent struggling to stay alive....

Even Cowgirls Get the Blues, a novel by Tom Robbins, is a classic tale of eccentric adventure that explores the themes of freedom, its prizes, and its prices. It introduces us to the legendary Sissy Hankshaw, a white-trash goddess literally born to hitchhike, and the freest female of them all. The story unfolds with the whooping crane rustlers - girls, young girls, cowgirls, in fact, all "bursting with dimples and hormones" - and the FBI has never seen anything quite like them.

Yet, their rebellion at the Rubber Rose Ranch is almost overshadowed by Sissy's arrival. As Robbins's robust characters attempt to turn the tables on fate, the reader is drawn along on a tragicomic joyride across the badlands of sexuality, wild rivers of language, and the frontiers of the mind. Thomas Pynchon himself has called it "one of those special novels—a piece of working magic, warm, funny, and sane."

"The truth is always made up of little particulars which sound ridiculous when repeated." So says Jack Crabb, the 111-year-old narrator of Thomas Berger’s 1964 masterpiece of American fiction, Little Big Man. Berger claimed the Western as serious literature with this savage and epic account of one man’s extraordinary double life. After surviving the massacre of his pioneer family, ten-year-old Jack is adopted by an Indian chief who nicknames him Little Big Man. As a Cheyenne, he feasts on dog, loves four wives, and sees his people butchered by horse soldiers commanded by General George Armstrong Custer. Later, living as a white man once more, he hunts the buffalo to near-extinction, tangles with Wyatt Earp, cheats Wild Bill Hickok, and fights in the Battle of Little Bighorn alongside Custer himself—a man he’d sworn to kill.

Hailed by The Nation as “a seminal event,” Little Big Man is a singular literary achievement that, like its hero, only gets better with age.

A Man is a pseudo-biography about Alexandros Panagoulis written in the form of a novel. The story is penned by the renowned author Oriana Fallaci, who had an intense romantic relationship with Panagoulis.

The novel delves into Fallaci's view that Panagoulis was assassinated by a vast conspiracy, a perspective widely shared by many Greeks. Through this narrative, Fallaci explores themes of suffering, struggle, and the essence of truly living beyond mere survival.

Chances is the book that made Jackie Collins one of America’s favorite authors. It sweeps you from the sophisticated playgrounds of Europe to the glittering gambling palaces of Las Vegas. It plunges you into the reckless, dangerous world of the Santangelo crime family.

Meet Gino Santangelo, the street kid who makes it all the way to the top. And then, enter Lucky—his sensual, stunningly beautiful, and passionate daughter; a woman who dares to win her father’s empire for herself. She is a woman unafraid of taking… CHANCES.